Saving Pinocchio
by Jobeth-S
Summary: This short story takes place after the episode in which Regina kidnapped Pinocchio. The story is about what happened with Regina while she saved him from the cabin, and how she interacts with Marco after that. Quite angsty, and I hope it will surprise you! :)


She appeared inside Marco's workshop, sitting on the cold floor as the purple cloud slowly disappeared around her. She just sat there unmoving, her heart hammering in her chest, the adrenalin rushing painfully in her veins. After she took a deep breath, relief washing over her, she released a short, deep laugh. Because she did it, little Pinocchio was resting curled up in her lap. He was sleeping. He was fine, he was safe. She had brought him back safely.

She tried to stand up, but the boy was just too heavy on her. Then she heared hurried footsteps approaching.

"What ... what happpened?" She heared Marco's surprised voice. A worried father who had already lost his precious son before, who thought that this was it, that this time their separation would last forever. "Oh, my dear boy." He continued, kneeling down beside them, right next to Regina's legs as he reached with both of his hands to take Pinocchio from Regina's arms, carefully manuvering his small, limp body.

Her trembling arms reluctantly gave in, after she realised how tightly she was still holding onto the peacefully sleeping boy. She had to remind herself that the danger was over, that she was just returning the boy to his family. From where she shouldn't have taken him in the first place. "He is fine. I didn't let them..." Regina tried to explain what had happened, she wanted nothing more than to apologise, to gain back the betrayed handyman's trust. But she should have known that what she had done was too much, that she had stepped over the line. And her heroic act of bringing Pinocchio back safely didn't change the fact, that she was the one who had kidnapped him to begin with.

"Leave."

"I'm... I'm sorry, I didn't ..."

"Leave now, and don't ever come anywhere near my boy again." Marco added more sterny.

His words like repeated stabs, penetrated through Regina's heart. The heart that was the most resilient one, but Regina feared of how much more it could take. How many more times could her heart heal, becoming whole again every time after shattering to a million pieces? But she knew that he was right, she had even expected him to do more, to say more. Then she realized that he was just like her father, only his eyes would tell everything he felt. But while in her father's case it was always apology showing in the depth of his gaze, she now saw anger burning in Marco's eyes.

"He ... he won't remember anything." She whispered, her voice getting a bit quivery as she was tried to reassure him. Even if this was how he wanted it, she still felt the need to let him know that his child would feel like nothing bad had happened to him during his time away. She knew, that as a parent she would feel relieved knowing that. And she wanted to offer Marco any comfort she could. But the man didn't even spare her a glance while he was climbing up the stairs with Pinocchio in his arms, leaving her alone on the cold chips covered floor.

She should feel happy, because so many things could have gone wrong. But they hadn't. No one had died. She had brought Pinocchio home safe, and she had The Dark One under her control. Only she was not loved, but that wasn't new. She had learned to live with that. She thought she had learned to live with that.

A single tear escaped through her lashes, and she attempted to blink the rest away quickly, though she knew that no one was looking.

Once again she became the hero of the day, but only after having reverted back to be the villain once again.

She sighed tiredly. She needed to rest, and she wanted this shaking in her hands to stop. She would poof home and get rid of the dagger as soon as possible. She hadn't felt like herself since she had taken it from Gold. The thought of the events back at the cabin brought a wicked smile to her lips. Everything had happened so fast, she had used light magic while they had all been scuffling like peasants. It had been far from a classic witchfight, it had been messy and dangerous. But she had won, and she just had to poof home and rest.

She would just... She would just lean against the leg of the table for a moment. Just for a little bit...

* * *

"Why are you still here?" She heared Marco's accented voice. "Is something wrong?" He continued, kneeling down beside her. And was it concern that she heared in his voice?

"I can't, I can't use my magic." Regina explained, exhaling and inhaling quite heavily between the words. "If you could take this," She said taking the dagger out from under her coat, holding it with both hands, because they were shaking so much, so unnaturally. "I think this is doing this to me. Take it and I will be able to use my magic and leave your house."

Marco noticed that it wasn't only her arms now, but her whole body was shaking slightly.

"Hide it!" She said with all the confidence she had.

Marco watched the dagger resting heavily in Regina's lap, between her trembling fingers, while the woman kept gesturing to it with her glassy eyes. Something was wrong. She hadn't told him everything, Marco thought.

"Take it, please." She pleaded, her eyes filled with unshead tears, her colorless lips quivering.

And finally he hesitantly took the dagger from her. Never in his life had he held anything this powerful, anything this strongly magical that contained this much darkness. He had expected to feel something after taking it into his own hands. But all he felt was some sticky liquid on his fingers. It came from the blade.

The Queen was still shaking, though she didn't have the dagger on her lap any more. Marco noticed that her pale hands were covered in red.

And the blade was also red.

"Oh, my god, you were stabbed!" Marco stated shocked, as he reached up for her lolling head to help ease her body down to the floor.

"No, no that's... that's impossible." She gasped, knowing it was more than possible. But she never felt the pain, all she felt was coldness which was now captivating her whole body.

"Here, your side." Marco said as he touched her there, on her left side, reaching under her coat to prove his point. He succeded, becauce she couldn't help but release a sharp cry of pain at the sudden contact. "Can't you heal yourself?" He asked, his hand all bloody now, dangerously bloody.

He was waiting for her answer, but she was only lying there, finally understanding, that the strange sensation she was feeling was due to the bloodloss. Though now she somehow didn't feel that strange, resting on the floor felt comfortable and Marco worrying about her felt nice. Her heart swelled a little; if only she wasn't this tired. "No, I'm... just...call Em...Emma." She breathed.

* * *

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Beta readed by the wonderfully kind spiral-nebula.

Thank you for reading!


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